Writing Divine Presence
How, in a darkening world, can we locate, recognize, remember, and experience divine presence? Helping us answer that perennial question is one of the ancient powers and functions of writing. Sacred stories, prayers, myths, visions, invocations, prophecies, hymns, epiphanies in poetry and prose, descriptions of moments when life brims with what is beyond us, even complaints about the silence or absence of divinity – all are ways we can write our way, and help others read their ways, toward divine presence. In this class, we will examine a few examples of these kinds of writing, and do exercises to help us practice, build on, and leap beyond them.
Joy Ladin has published eleven books of poetry, including her latest collection, Family; National Jewish Book Award winner The Book of Anna; and Lambda Literary Award finalists Transmigration and Impersonation. She has also published three books of creative non-fiction: Once Out of Nature: Selected Essays on the Transformation of Gender; National Jewish Book Award finalist Through the Door of Life; and Lambda Literary and Triangle Award finalist, The Soul of the Stranger.
